Convert Plugin¶
The convert
plugin lets you convert parts of your collection to a
directory of your choice, transcoding audio and embedding album art along the
way. It can transcode to and from any format using a configurable command
line. It will skip files that are already present in the target directory.
Converted files follow the same path formats as your library.
Installation¶
First, enable the convert
plugin (see Plugins).
To transcode music, this plugin requires the ffmpeg
command-line
tool. If its executable is in your path, it will be found automatically
by the plugin. Otherwise, configure the plugin to locate the executable:
convert:
ffmpeg: /usr/bin/ffmpeg
Usage¶
To convert a part of your collection, run beet convert QUERY
. This
will display all items matching QUERY
and ask you for confirmation before
starting the conversion. The -a
(or --album
) option causes the command
to match albums instead of tracks.
The -t
(--threads
) and -d
(--dest
) options allow you to specify
or overwrite the respective configuration options.
By default, the command places converted files into the destination directory
and leaves your library pristine. To instead back up your original files into
the destination directory and keep converted files in your library, use the
-k
(or --keep-new
) option.
Configuration¶
The plugin offers several configuration options, all of which live under the
convert:
section:
dest
sets the directory the files will be converted (or copied) to. A destination is required—you either have to provide it in the config file or on the command line using the-d
flag.embed
indicates whether or not to embed album art in converted items. Default: true.- If you set
max_bitrate
, all lossy files with a higher bitrate will be transcoded and those with a lower bitrate will simply be copied. Note that this does not guarantee that all converted files will have a lower bitrate—that depends on the encoder and its configuration. auto
gives you the option to import transcoded versions of your files automatically during theimport
command. With this option enabled, the importer will transcode all non-MP3 files over the maximum bitrate before adding them to your library.quiet
mode prevents the plugin from announcing every file it processes. Default: false.paths
lets you specify the directory structure and naming scheme for the converted files. Use the same format as the top-levelpaths
section (see Path Format Configuration). By default, the plugin reuses your top-level path format settings.- Finally,
threads
determines the number of threads to use for parallel encoding. By default, the plugin will detect the number of processors available and use them all.
These config options control the transcoding process:
format
is the name of the audio file format to transcode to. Files that are already in the format (and are below the maximum bitrate) will not be transcoded. The plugin includes default commands for the formats MP3, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, Opus, Vorbis, and Windows Media; the default is MP3. If you want to use a different format (or customize the transcoding options), use the options below.extension
is the filename extension to be used for newly transcoded files. This is implied by theformat
option, but you can set it yourself if you’re using a different format.command
is the command line to use to transcode audio. A default command, usually using an FFmpeg invocation, is implied by theformat
option. The tokens$source
and$dest
in the command are replaced with the paths to the existing and new file. For example, the commandffmpeg -i $source -y -aq 4 $dest
transcodes to MP3 using FFmpeg at the V4 quality level.
Here’s an example configuration:
convert:
embed: false
format: aac
max_bitrate: 200
dest: /home/user/MusicForPhone
threads: 4
paths:
default: $albumartist/$title
If you have several formats you want to switch between, you can list them
under the formats
key and refer to them using the format
option. Each
key under formats
should contain values for command
and extension
as described above:
convert:
format: speex
formats:
speex:
command: ffmpeg -i $source -y -acodec speex $dest
extension: spx
wav:
command: ffmpeg -i $source -y -acodec pcm_s16le $dest
extension: wav